Article Abstracts, pt.2

Virtually all of my articles relate to privacy issues in archives, as that is a major research interest of mine. A concern in archives for some time has been "third-party" donations--correspondence and other documents that were in the possession of the donating party, but not originated by them. As technology advances, archives go online, and collections are frequently made available while the subjects are still living, the debate has become even more heated and pressing.

Dickson, Maggie. "Due Diligence, Futile Effort: Copyright and the Digitization of the Thomas E.

Watson Papers." American Archivist. 73. (Fall/Winter 2010): 626-636. Print.

In the arguments for tighter archival regulation, it is easy to overlook that most advocates have not put their suggestions into practice. Dickson attempts to change that, using a distillation of the suggestions of several advocates. She tries out this method on a relatively small collection with just over 8400 documents. After nine months and $8,000 of man-hours, permissions are only received on four letters. Her conclusion is that no archive can operate under many of the suggested revisions and regulations. She follows this with a summary of copyright law that explains why archives would have so much difficulty. At the same time, she is not pleased with the current operating status of archives and calls for a third option.

Schwarz, Judith. "The Archivst's Balancing Act: Helping Researchers while Protecting

Individual Privacy." Journal of American History. 79.1 (June 1992): 179-189. Print. Retrieved from JSTOR.

The archivist’s “right to judgment” is heavily championed by Schwarz through a series of examples, often drawn from her own career. Tracing a thread through public and private archives and covering over a decade of personal experience, she takes a firm stand for the need of archivists have the freedom to make decisions regarding privacy without the oversight of restrictive regulations and legal concerns.

Greene, Mark. "Moderation in Everything, Access in Nothing?: Opinions about Access
Restrictions on Private Papers." Archival Issues. 18.1 (1993): 31-41. Print.
Mark Greene is one of the most well-known voices in archival science. In this article he examines privacy issues as they exist (or to more accurately state his conclusions, as they are said to exist) in archives. He muses about whether it is even possible to implement proposed rules and regulations in a modern archive. Although supportive of an archivist having the power to make decisions and even go with their gut when necessary, he is careful to observe the need for policies and guidelines. While heavily supporting the idea that the donor is the best authority, Greene also advocates making them aware of all the actions that will or might be taken with their collection--he half-jokingly advocates a Miranda card for archivists.